Scripture Study

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 14 March 2018.
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"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea." (Matthew 14:25)

The above verse is part of the famous account of Jesus walking on the water to the ship where His disciples were trying to ride out a storm. Did you ever take note of the first part of the verse that refers to "the fourth watch of the night"? The custom at the time was to divide the night (6 p.m. through 6 a.m.) into four periods of three hours each such that the members of the crew would take turns being responsible for the ship while the others slept.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 07 March 2018.
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In Alma 12, Alma calls out the lawyer Zeezrom for having lied to the Nephite people in Ammonihah. He goes on to say, "Thou hast not lied to men only but thou hast lied unto God; for behold, he knows all thy thoughts, and thou seest that thy thoughts are made known unto us by his Spirit" (Alma 12:3). Zeezrom is totally flustered that Alma and Amulek seem to know his thoughts, and the tone of the conversation changes, giving Alma the opportunity to speak about the mysteries of God and the plan of redemption.

In the above passage, Alma tells Zeezrom he lied to God. Is it actually possible to lie to God? After all, it's pretty tough to put one over on someone who is everywhere, sees everything you do, and even knows your very thoughts.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 28 February 2018.
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Alma 11 is the chapter in which we learn how much each unit of Nephite money is worth, relative to other units of their money. For example, if you were living in Zarahemla at the time, you would want to know that a senum of silver is equivalent in value to a senine of gold and that either can be used to purchase a measure of barley or any other type of grain. A seon of gold is worth two senines and a shum is worth twice as much as that, and so on.

Although on the surface, U.S. money is easier to understand than Nephite currency — a $10 bill is worth twice as much as a $5 bill, and a $20 bill is worth twice as much as that, etc. — we can easily find ourselves having to do mathematical exercises with currency values when we visit other countries. For example, when I visit Central America, I keep in mind that $1 in U.S. currency is worth $2.60 in Dominica, 8 quetzals in Guatemala and 20 pesos in Mexico.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 21 February 2018.
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You're walking down the street, and you see a man bump into a woman, knock her down, and then steal her purse and run away. The man is eventually caught and put on trial for the crime. You are called as a witness and relate what you saw. Now, the defense attorney is going to cross-examine you. The dialogue might go something like this:

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 14 February 2018.
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If you were the older sibling growing up — as I was — you may have experienced occasions when you and your younger sibling(s) did something that got you in trouble with your parents. Even though you all participated in the same escapade, you as the oldest got in the most trouble. In justification of this unfair treatment, your parents would say, "You're older — you should know better."

Perhaps the Nephites in Ammonihah were feeling like the older sibling in Alma 9 as Alma, while urging them to repentance for their wicked ways, reinforces the point by telling them, "it shall be more tolerable for [the Lamanites] in the day of judgment than for you, if ye remain in your sins, yea, and even more tolerable for them in this life than for you, except ye repent" (Alma 9:15).

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 07 February 2018.
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Alma continues his evangelistic travels in Alma 8, eventually arriving at the city of Ammonihah. To put it mildly, he is not well received by the people of this city — they "reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city" (verse 13). However, as Alma is on the road to the next city, an angel appears to him and instructs him to return to Ammonihah to be used to preach repentance and offer the people the opportunity to avoid destruction.

By the time Alma arrives at the city, he is quite hungry, so he asks a man if he can help him out with something to eat. This is not a chance meeting — the man's name is Amulek, and an angel has instructed him in a vision to be prepared to receive a man of God. As a result, Amulek says to Alma, "Go with me into my house and I will impart unto thee of my food; and I know that thou wilt be a blessing unto me and my house" (Alma 8:20).

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 31 January 2018.
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Now free of the chief judge position and able to focus wholly on leading The Church, Alma decides to travel around to check on the status of The Church in the various Nephite cities and encourage the members in each location. His first stop is the city of Gideon. An excerpt of his words to the members in that city is recorded in Alma 7.

Although the bulk of Alma's address concerns the coming of Jesus Christ, he also makes three separate statements about situations that have brought him joy as The Church leader:

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 03 January 2018.
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In Alma 6, Alma establishes some order to the church in the capital city of Zarahemla, ordaining ministers and getting the membership roles in order. As the overall leader of the church, he recognizes that he will need to travel around and provide support to the churches in the various Nephite cities, so he wants to make sure the church in Zarahemla can function in his absence. Among the instructions he gives to the church members:

“The children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God” (Alma 6:6)

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 27 December 2017.
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Let’s all sing it together:

“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart…”

It’s easy to sing, but is it a true statement? It doesn’t say that a wonderful change has occurred in someone’s life; it says that a wonderful change has occurred in my life. So, can I truthfully sing that a wonderful change has occurred in my life since Jesus came into my heart? Or am I just singing along for the sake of the melody?

When addressing His disciples at the Last Supper (John 15), Jesus used a familiar metaphor to compare His followers to the branches of a fruit tree. Branches with no fruit are cut away, but even branches bearing fruit require attention — these are purged (or pruned) in order to allow them to bring forth even more fruit. Pruning can include cutting away twigs and leaves that are in the way, but it can also include removing excess fruit that weighs down the branch and leaves no room for additional fruit to grow.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 13 December 2017.
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Yoke: A wooden bar that joins two oxen to each other and to the burden they pull

Try to envision the arrangement described above. The two animals are connected to each other and need to move forward together, pulling a load behind them. Now, what would happen if the two oxen who are connected to each other in this way are significantly different in terms of size or strength? The weaker or shorter ox would walk more slowly than the stronger or taller one, causing the load to go around in circles. When oxen are “unequally yoked” they cannot perform the task set before them. Instead of working together, they are at odds with one another.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 06 December 2017.
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In Alma 2, a man named Amlici campaigns to become a king over the Nephite people, actually forcing a vote on the issue. When Amlici and the proposal to have a king are defeated in the election, Amlici takes his supporters and forms his own little kingdom anyway, eventually coming to battle against the Nephites. After the battle, Alma sends some spies to follow the remaining Amlicites and they return with the following report:

“Behold, we followed the camp of the Amlicites, and to our great astonishment…we saw a numerous host of Lamanites; and behold, the Amlicites have joined them” (Alma 2:24)

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 29 November 2017.
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In Alma 1, a man named Nehor goes about, challenging the way the church operates. In particular, he promotes the concept of a paid ministry, “declaring unto the people that every priest and teacher ought to become popular; and they ought not to labor with their hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people.” (Alma 1:3) Apparently, his words are quite persuasive, as people begin to give him money, and he becomes quite wealthy.

The concept of a minister becoming wealthy with money collected from people who think they are donating to God is quite distasteful. It’s in fact one of the things that has made people cynical when it comes to organized religion, as they think that every minister is in it for the money and is cheating the poor people in the congregation.

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 22 November 2017.
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"Majority rules" is a simple concept. It’s when you make a decision by having everyone vote on some question and then implement whichever option gets the most votes. It’s how the U.S. government is designed to operate. The majority of voters select elected officials, and the majority of those elected officials enact laws and policies. The majority makes the rules.

In Mosiah 29, King Mosiah realizes that none of his sons have a desire to follow him as king (since they’re now much more interested in doing missionary work for the Lord) so he puts into place a new form of government in which judges govern the people. These judges will be elected by “the voice of the people” (majority rules).

Written by Brother Jerry Valenti
on Wednesday, 15 November 2017.
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Having been converted to Christ in the previous chapter, the four sons of Mosiah express a desire to do missionary work in Mosiah 28. Their choice of preaching the gospel to the Lamanite people is somewhat surprising though, considering that:

Their lives will be in danger. (The Lamanites hate the Nephites.)

They will have virtually no credibility. (Why would the Lamanites even listen to them?)

Their likelihood of success will be extremely slim. (The Lamanites are not the type of people who will look to God under any circumstances.)

On the other hand:

They won’t be greeted with a response of “We already have a church.”

They recognize that they themselves were vile sinners and God was merciful to them.

They consider the Lamanites their brethren, so they would love to see their lives changed by knowing the Lord.